Randomness

[whitney]

My newish bike ticked over about 8k miles today (according to my garmin forerunner anyway). To celebrate, one of my pedals fell apart mid-ride. Sigh. Nothing says fun like one-foot pedaling 10 miles home.

that sucks.. i can't imagine one mile with only one petal much less ten..

just found out that the books i need for the new course is gonna cost me approximately $300 compared to a maximum of $90 in those i've already passed. damn $300 is just a little less than my student grant each month...

300 isn't so bad, i had a few books that cost 300 for one alone..and of course there wasn't any used copies and the professor insisted on the latest edition x.x

i wish they'd change over to digital/ereaders- cut down the costs and the heavy bulk load.

[ironman]

^ the beauty of being an engineering student. you can find many copies and versions of the books worldwide. my heat transfer and thermodynamics textbooks are "international editions" coming from India which cost easily 1/5 of the retail cost

(and it's also quite easy to find free PDF versions via torrents for some books)

and for running shoes, i've had good experience with Mizuno

[endersgame]

^ the beauty of being an engineering student. you can find many copies and versions of the books worldwide. my heat transfer and thermodynamics textbooks are "international editions" coming from India which cost easily 1/5 of the retail cost

that's because some 8-year old from india on an 18-hour shift made them so affordable.

[theetruscan]

that's because some 8-year old from india on an 18-hour shift made them so affordable.

Err, not from what I've seen. It's because the cost of the giant books is in developing the content, and the generally lower size of a print run. The secondary (tertiary?) markets are just additional profit as I understand. It doesn't cost much to print extras.

A 300 page physics book doesn't cost $150 because it costs that much to print. It's because it requires a huge commitment of time from a professor and very few people will ever read it.

[thaiison]

300 isn't so bad, i had a few books that cost 300 for one alone..and of course there wasn't any used copies and the professor insisted on the latest edition x.x

i wish they'd change over to digital/ereaders- cut down the costs and the heavy bulk load.

yeah this is so true, in the introduction of every new course they insist that we can't use older editions. i can usually find some summaries but they aren't much of use really. i need to start finding some used books, have another 4 weeks before it starts.

what did you study whitney?

[endersgame]

yeah this is so true, in the introduction of every new course they insist that we can't use older editions.

that's right. i was never allowed to buy older editions at a fraction of the price. the collegiate publishing industry is a total racket.

the writer can make a small insignificant change then call it a new edition. the school, acting as the distributor makes money off full retail on the books. they also force students to buy the newest editions. and the publisher keeps printing the same book with a turtle instead of a owl on a bio textbook cover..

theetruscan, i can't say for sure about content developing being the bulk of a textbook budget. i have some background in fine art publishing. mostly high end printing in low runs. the bulk of of the production costs was always the paper from what i recall.

[whitney]

what did you study whitney?

nursing

[theetruscan]

theetruscan, i can't say for sure about content developing being the bulk of a textbook budget. i have some background in fine art publishing. mostly high end printing in low runs. the bulk of of the production costs was always the paper from what i recall.

In mathematics and physics at least the paper is not, as I understand it, a major part of the cost.

[ironman]

i wouldn't say that child labour makes it a fraction of the price. i actually don't know what makes it so cheap. it's the exact same content, exact same author, same publisher, still full colour pages, etc.

literally, the only differences between the one in the university bookstore and mine are: soft cover, different picture in the front, and "international edition" written on it

although if one is willing to forego colour pages, it can be even cheaper

[laughed]

being sick sucks. First Kardashian show- now reading urban dicitionary definitions for Hipster and Scenester. What in the heck is going on with my life? how did i get to this point? I need to get rid of my computer.

[stereophobic]

I don't get why so many people today are so obsessed with the concept of respect. People have forgotten how to carry themselves with respect and have succumbed to demanding it from others. So sad.

[laughed]

Is dada nihilism?

[SHYE_POSER]

old but still funny. And yes i am a crude,dirty,filthy bugger. :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3pXzpfqFxI

[endersgame]

being sick sucks. First Kardashian show- now reading urban dicitionary definitions for Hipster and Scenester. What in the heck is going on with my life? how did i get to this point? I need to get rid of my computer.

don't worry, you haven't hit rock bottom yet. unless you've been watching jersey shore. get better soon.

[theetruscan]

Last day of the x-games streaming live from Norway right now, let´s hear it for the Norwegians in Slopestyle, and the guy from Iceland we almost adopted although he has been riding a lot in Sweden as well.

The scores given to the boarders in big air at the start were too high, and kind of broke scoring. Skier big air was unbelievable this year though. They all look like midgets somehow.